A Familiar Name, but I Can't Place the Face

By ANDY MEISLER

Published: October 16, 1994

Correction Appended

CONSIDER THESE SCENARIOS: On a seemingly ordinary day in September, you discover -- with no warning whatsoever -- that a neighbor's face has changed beyond recognition. Or that an adult man has added three inches of height over his summer vacation. Or even that the woman you know as Mom has disappeared, to be replaced by a smiling, wisecracking substitute who has taken over the kitchen, bedroom and many of the mannerisms of her predecessor -- with nary an objection from anyone else around her.

If all of the above sounds vaguely upsetting to you, imagine how scarily it resonates in the already terror-filled world of television series production.

Recasting an important part in a series is a dangerous maneuver. Viewers tuned out en masse, for instance, when CBS tried to pass off Monte Markham as Perry Mason in a new version of that series in 1973. (Raymond Burr returned in 1985 to reclaim his rightful position in a series of made-for-television movies.) And the 1984 substitution of Donna Reed for Barbara Bel Geddes as the beloved Miss Ellie of "Dallas" can be seen, in retrospect, as the beginning of a long downhill slide for that epochal CBS nighttime soap opera.

Producers and writers work constantly to create a bond of easy intimacy between their fictional characters and their audience. It is an article of faith among them that firing a cast member and bringing in a strange new face to replace him puts the whole make-believe relationship at risk. Certainly characters come and go in any series, but the idea of having the very same person played by two different actors is frowned on.

Yet the history of prime time is dotted with interesting examples of such gambles -- some of which, like Darrins I and II (Dick York and Dick Sargent) on the old sitcom "Bewitched" and the second-season substitution of Sharon Gless for Meg Foster on "Cagney and Lacey," have gone fairly smoothly. Two seasons ago, when Lecy Goranson, the actress who played Becky, the elder daughter on "Roseanne," decided to enroll at Vassar, she was replaced by Sarah Chalk, with no effect on the ratings.

This year, two troubled ABC series, the Wednesday sitcom "Thunder Alley" and the hourlong "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," made major recasting decisions. Behind both of these are tangles of bad luck, problems, pressures and limited options.

"There was quite a bit of agonizing; we did not make the change lightly," said Michael Singer, executive producer of "Lois and Clark." At the end of last season, the show's first, Mr. Singer "took a deep breath" and fired Michael Landes, the dark-haired actor playing Jimmy Olsen. The role of the Daily Planet's eternal cub reporter-photographer now belongs to Justin Whalen, a blond, younger-looking actor.

Mr. Singer himself is a replacement for Deborah Joy Levine, the show's creator, who left the show last spring. Although "Lois and Clark" got good reviews, especially for the tongue-in-cheek romantic "triangle" of Lois Lane, Superman and his alter ego, Clark Kent, it struggled in its 8 P.M. Sunday time slot, finishing far behind CBS's "Murder, She Wrote" and in a virtual tie for second with NBC's "Sea Quest D.S.V."

ABC executives concluded that a major overhaul was needed. Out went much of the romantic whimsy (and Ms. Levine); in went more special effects and adventure.

The network also advised that Mr. Landes was confusingly similar in appearance to the dark-haired Dean Cain, the show's Superman and Clark Kent -- and that unlike Jonathan Brandis, a star of "Sea Quest," Mr. Landes had not become a teen-age heartthrob, attracting younger viewers.

For obvious reasons, it was not thought advisable to eliminate the Jimmy Olsen character and substitute a similar one with a different name. "It wasn't Michael's fault at all," said Mr. Singer. "He's a terrific kid who did everything that was asked of him. But now there's a cleaner separation between Dean and Justin." Better still, says a hopeful Warner Brothers Television publicist, Mr. Whalen is getting interview requests from teen-age fan magazines like Sixteen and Tiger Beat.

(Followers of the original 1950's "Adventures of Superman" will certainly recall the two Loises from that show, Phyllis Coates and Noel Neill.)

At "Thunder Alley," Robin Riker, a sitcom veteran, popped up this fall playing Bobbi Turner, a divorced, "liberal 90's mom" raising three children in a household headed by her father, a crusty retired stock-car racer played by Edward Asner.

"Thunder Alley" was created by the same team behind "Home Improvement," the ABC megahit. In the show's first eight episodes, which were broadcast last season, Bobbi was played by Diane Venora, a respected stage and film actress whose most prominent roles have been with the New York Public Theater, doing Shakespeare.

At its premiere "Thunder Alley" got lukewarm reviews. ABC had placed it in a plum time slot after "Home Improvement," and many analysts thought that its good ratings reflected the clout of the show's creators rather than any inherent comedic value. This season, "Thunder Alley" is shown at 8 P.M. on Wednesdays, a tougher time slot without a strong lead-in. So Dan Guntzelman, a writer-producer who had worked on the hit sitcom "Growing Pains," was brought in for a revamp.

"The feeling I had after watching the first eight," Mr. Guntzelman said, "was that Mom needed to be slightly more outrageous. For an 8 P.M. show it needed more lightness, less of the darker shadings I was seeing. Robin is an actress who could be comedically combative with Ed."

Mr. Guntzelman never met Ms. Venora; viewers got no explanation of the shift.

"Am I afraid of how the audience will react to the switch?" said the producer. "Sure. Everybody's afraid all the time. That's why this is such a great business."

Photos: 'Lois and Clark' -- ABC said "Get me rewrite" when Michael Landes, above right, failed to stir pubescent hearts as Jimmy Olsen. This season Justin Whalen, right, is playing the part. (ABC); 'Thunder Alley' -- Last spring Diane Venora, above, played Ed Asner's daughter on this sitcom. A new writer-producer judged the show too dark, and suddenly Robin Riker, above right, was the daughter. (ABC); 'Roseanne' -- Becky, the elder daughter in the Conner household, was originally played by Lecy Goranson, right, who decided to quit and go to college. Sarah Chalk, below right, is beginning her second season as Becky. (ABC); 'Bewitched' After five years, Samantha twitched her nose and Dick York was replaced by Dick Sargent (inset) as her husband, Darrin. (Photographs from Howard Frank Collection)

Correction: October 30, 1994, Sunday An article on Oct. 16 about the recasting of roles in television series misstated the given name of the executive producer of "Lois and Clark." He is Robert Singer, not Michael.